63 Dart Mystery Circuit Board Washer

[gage zamrzla]

I've been having a few intermittent issues with my 63 dart since I bought it last year but electrical is 100% new to me going into this and I'm needing a little advice.

I had the gauge cluster out to replace a few wires from the harness that were grounding and that I believed were causing my fuse for my taillights to continually blow and I had a washer I wasn't expecting to be there fall from the circuit board. Can anyone tell me where this guy is supposed to go back? I can't find any info or photos and it only seems to have one or two places it could go but I'm not in a hurry to mess something up.

 

[Dana67Dart]

How about a photo of your cluster

 

[gage zamrzla]

Front and back.

 

[gage zamrzla]

I should mention, the cigarette lighter has never been connected in the time I've owned the car so I wrote that off right away. I considered the back of the speedo but there's no way for it to go on without clearly preventing a proper connection so my best guess is it was underneath where the cluster of wires connects to the circuit board above and between the ignition and cigarette lighter.

Again, suuuper green on the electronics so I didn't want to just pop it in and see for fear of frying something.

 

[67Dart273]

I would not guarantee that washer belongs in the cluster. Also, I don't believe the tail light fuse directly feeds anything in the cluster. The dimmer controlled dash lamps come off the tail fuse, BUT after going through the dimmer they go through the SMALLER INST fuse which should be at one end of the fuse panel.

 

[gage zamrzla]

I would not guarantee that washer belongs in the cluster. Also, I don't believe the tail light fuse directly feeds anything in the cluster. The dimmer controlled dash lamps come off the tail fuse, BUT after going through the dimmer they go through the SMALLER INST fuse which should be at one end of the fuse panel.

I believe you are correct. That confuses me a bit though because whenever I blow a fuse for the tail lights the dash lamps also go out. I'm trying to go through this with as fine a tooth cone as I can but seeing some of the patchwork that came before me it makes me wonder if I have a deeper problem from someone's previous, "solution."

 

[67Dart273]

^^ That would be correct^^ Here are how dimmer controlled dash lamps work:

The park/ tail light circuit must be working. The headlight switch must be in "park or "head" and the dimmer control twisted some to the left. This results in power going through the dash dimmer control and out on the TAN wire where it goes down to the INST fuse. From the INST fuse, dash lamp power is branched off on orange wires

So BOTH the tail and the INST fuses must be good for the dash lamps to operate.

 

[gage zamrzla]

^^ That would be correct^^ Here are how dimmer controlled dash lamps work:

The park/ tail light circuit must be working. The headlight switch must be in "park or "head" and the dimmer control twisted some to the left. This results in power going through the dash dimmer control and out on the TAN wire where it goes down to the INST fuse. From the INST fuse, dash lamp power is branched off on orange wires

So BOTH the tail and the INST fuses must be good for the dash lamps to operate.

Makes total sense, thank you. Would I be able to ask one more thing from you? I'm having little luck figuring out why I keep blowing the tail light fuse and to the best of my current ability everything seems to be matching up with the diagram for my harness aside from one thing. I ran out of light today and tomorrow will be pulling back the electrical tape to confirm but I think I may not be connected correctly at the point highlighted below. aside from possibly not being grounded I'm trying to reason where I could be shorting out and have inspected the wiring from the fuse box all the way back to the tail lights and aside from a tiny tear in a light blue and brown wire behind my kick panel everything else has been corrected or is in good shape. Any suggestion if I'm missing something or just going about this all wrong?

 

[Mattax]

I'm having little luck figuring out why I keep blowing the tail light fuse and to the best of my current ability everything seems to be matching up with the diagram for my harness aside from one thing.

That diagram is from an unknown source, probably something like a Motor or Chilton's manual. They have a higher percentage of errors than what you'll find in a '63 Dodge or Plymouth shop manual.

I ran out of light today and tomorrow will be pulling back the electrical tape to confirm but I think I may not be connected correctly at the point highlighted below.

That point is the 'main splice'. It's a welded splice joining the alternator output wire, the battery output/charge line, and the various circuit hot feeds. Those are the key switch, the headlight switch headlight terminal, and the hot fuses in the fuse box.

If the splice is bad, the connection will be poor or non-existant. It would not blow fuses.

a tiny tear in a light blue and brown wire behind my kick panel everything else has been corrected or is in good shape. Any suggestion if I'm missing something or just going about this all wrong?

Damaged insulation can be a cause of shorts. If the conductor touches a second circuit, it could draw more power through the fuse than it is rated for. More common is the conductor touching ground. In that case it will draw much more current and the fuse will melt.
Since the fuse is blowing, the short must downstream of the fuse.

I don't know the details of a '63, but usually the parking and the tail lights are on fuse, and the brake lights may or may not be on a second fuse.
In my '67 they are all on one fuse that feeds the dome light as well. That's what I have sketched in the diagram above - a work in progress for a '62 that I was helping someone here with.

 

[67Dart273]

^^Yes you must find out "what all" that fuse feeds. Don't just concentrate on the tail lights. If you don't have a shop manual donwload one from MyMopar

 

[cudamark]

The washer looks like one that goes on the radio posts to hold the bezel on. Does your dash dimmer in the light switch work to dim the dash lights properly? When does your fuse blow? At one particular time when something is turned on......such as just the parks lights setting? Only after a certain length of time? Have you confirmed it's the correct amperage fuse? Correct bulbs in taillight sockets?

 

[Jim Kueneman]

That washer is not part of the dash or cluster.